Empty stands, different worlds, and more.
Old Tappan 31, Warren Hills 27 -- NJSIAA North 1 Group 4 semifinal.
Singing the missing fan blues. The next time somebody complains about current negative attendance trends for Lehigh Valley-area wrestling, point them to Bergen County. Old Tappan has an athletic, scrambling, energetic team and vigorously animated coaches, also fun to watch (if not for referees Doug Hesse and Frank Leitner to listen to) – but apparently nobody does watch. There was absolutely no pre-match atmosphere whatsoever – at 6:45 for a 7 p.m. match there were less than 10 fans in the gym – and Warren Hills had to feel like they were warming up in a closed gym. A few bouts into the match a handful more folks had trickled in – mostly from Warren Hills despite the daunting drive; the Streaks’ road attendance was OK – but the number never clicked above sparse. Too bad.
It’s how you lose sometimes. Old Tappan coach Rob Ortiz, when asked where he thought the difference was in the match, chose to highlight some of his wrestlers who lost. “I think the (big) place was at 113, where Andrew Dippolito lost just 1-0 to Kyle Wulff. “And through 120-126-138 not getting pinned was big for us.” Those Golden Knight wrestlers contributed to the team effort by fighting off their backs and not opening up and allowing the kind of mistake that could lead to a pin. In a four-point match every move matters and Old Tappan did a masterful job of limiting damage at key spots.
Different worlds. Warren Hills’ shift to North 1 takes the Blue Streaks away from familiar foes such as Voorhees, Watchung Hills and Nutley and tosses them schools such as Old Tappan and Wayne Valley. Of course, that works both ways. “We don’t see much of these guts and it’s difficult to judge results,” Ortiz said. We think it’s good when teams meet unfamiliar foes – wrestling the same teams over and over again doesn’t do anybody any good.
Takedown of the match. Warren Hills freshman Nick Galka at 182. His only takedown in a 4-3 decision came when he countered a good shot by Andrew Arakelian of the Golden Knights, then gathered Arakelian’s legs and brought him down while managing to walk a tightrope to stay in bounds. Galka may be one to watch – he handles himself physically well at 182 despite wrestling older boys. That’s an exceedingly tough task, and Galka does fine. With more experience, he may be a really bright spot for the Blue Streaks.
Brad Wilson may be reached at bwilson@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @bradwsports. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.
